The “Word Warriors Live: All Nepali Slam” was filled with brilliant Nepali language poems and performances by 16 performers who took part in the competition, held at Thames International College, Purano Baneshwor on July 12th, 2014.

According to a statement, the three winners of the first ever all-Nepali language slam competition, organized by Word Warriors poetry slam group in collaboration with Quixote’s Cove, were Nawaraj Parajuli, Aakash Baral and Krishna Thapa Magar.

The competition saw two rounds of performances. All 16 participants performed in the first round and the top scoring seven moved on to the second round, after which the top scoring three were named the winners of the slam.

The participants were judged based on their performance (50 percent) and poetry (50 percent). The judges for the slam were : Yukta Bajracharya, Founding member of Word Warriors, Samip Dhungel- Word Warrior instructor, Shiva Bhusal and Janam Maharjan- Winners of QC Awards 2013: The poetry Slam and Phanindra Dahal, Reporter at BBC Nepali service.

The competition saw variety of topics, issues and styles come together. Winner Akash Baral performed his poems in Nepali metrics or Chhanda. Another Winner Nawaraj Parajuli stunned the audience with his beautiful and theatric rendition of his poems- one from the perspective of Burn Violence survivor and another from a Nepali youth toiling in a gulf country. The third winner, Krishna Thapa Magar, won the judges’ points and audience applause with his witty short poems.